Despite Bret’s reassurance that she wasn’t at fault, Lexi didn’t know how to shake the guilt. But she also knew that homing in on that guilt wasn’t going to help either. What was done was done, and while she couldn’t change the past, Trent’s actions, or even Adam Tazi’s actions, she could help come up with a plan that would get them out of here. Frustration was fueling her anger, and she already knew she was going to need every ounce of courage she could muster.
Because she wanted to be more than just a damsel in distress. Though there was something terribly romantic about the days of chivalry, maidens and knights in shining armor coming to the rescue. If she was going to survive this, she couldn’t imagine anyone she’d rather have at her side than Colton. And it was more than just the way he made her heart stir and her longing for the possibility of something more with him. She’d also come to trust him completely. His instincts were spot-on and his resourcefulness had saved her life more than once.
She stared at a dark spot on the floor where something had stained the cement. Even he couldn’t completely erase her fear. But none of that changed the reality of what they were facing. For now, she just needed to focus on getting out of here. Nothing more.
“So what do we do?” she asked finally.
“The room’s solid and built for the heat, which is why the walls are at least a foot thick,” Colton said. “The two weakest points are obviously the door and the window, but even they come with their own challenges. The door is solid, but with some work it might be possible to take off the hinges. As for the window, the bars are old and rusty, which means we might be able to break them off.”
Lexi frowned. Even with the room’s weaknesses, it seemed that Adam had found the perfect place to keep them out of the way.”
“So assuming we get out, then what?” she asked.
“We’re far enough outside the city that all I could see from the window was desert.”
Which meant they could be anywhere. She was certain they’d driven on the unpaved road for at least forty-five minutes, possibly an hour. They could easily be fifty or sixty miles from the outskirts of the city.
“I say we worry about what to do when the time comes that we get out,” Bret said. “But I also think we need to stay ready for when they do show up. Because that’s something that will definitely happen.”
“Agreed.” Colton stood as if he were preparing for a battle. “They’ll be armed, but if we could take them off guard, we might be able to secure the advantage we need to subdue them.”
“And get one or more of us shot.” Lexi’s frown deepened. She agreed that they should stay proactive, but that didn’t make her feel any more comfortable with the idea of trying to take down armed captors. What were the odds of all three of them walking out alive?
What were the odds of all three of them walking out alive if they did nothing?
The thought sent a chill down her spine. Even if Trent did show up, Adam had no motivation for keeping any of them alive. They were now witnesses. They’d been to his home and seen his face. They knew too much for him to let them simply walk away.
“Lexi?”
She nodded at Colton. “I know you’re both right. I’ve just never been in a situation where I had to fight for my life.”
“I’ll start working on the door hinges,” Bret said. “Why don’t the two of you try to break those bars off the window?”
She moved beside Colton next to the pile of tires under the window. “What do you need me to do?”
“We’re going to have to come up with a sturdier ladder,” he said.
“There’s a couple boards in the back corner that might help stabilize it.”
They spent the next few minutes in silence, working together to ensure their access to the window wasn’t going to come crashing down on them. Once the makeshift ladder was finished, she volunteered to stand next to it to guarantee it didn’t shift while Colton climbed on top of the pile to further examine the rusty bars.
“It’s funny how all the things I used to think were so important suddenly don’t seem to matter quite as much as they used to.” She leaned slightly against the tires, watching for any movement as Colton balanced above her, and needing to verbalize some of what she was feeling. “Even some of the things I was looking forward to...somehow they seem so insignificant.”
“Like your trip to Ireland?”
“Yeah.” She couldn’t help but wonder what Micah was doing right now. With only a few days left till the wedding, she knew there would be a flurry of activity. Which was why she had planned to arrive a few days early. Not only to see some of the sights of a country she’d always wanted to visit, but to help Micah with some of the last-minute details they’d discussed over the past few weeks.
“Will you hand me one of those pieces of cardboard?” Colton interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to her present situation—to a place somewhere in the Sahara. “I need to pull out these glass panes, hopefully without breaking them, in order to get to the bars.”
He carefully pulled out the first pane, then set it onto the cardboard piece she was holding. “I don’t think any of what is going on now should diminish what you were looking forward to. It simply puts things in a different perspective for the time being.”
“It’s hard to believe she’s getting married in a castle in Ireland.” Lexi let out a low laugh. “Can’t really think of a place any more different than this.”
“Where did they meet?” Colton asked, handing her the last pane.
“At a conference back in the States. It was pretty much love at first sight. At least for Micah. They got engaged right before I came to Africa. She’s spent the past few months sending me everything from ideas to bridesmaid dresses to the font on the place cards.”
It was going to be Micah’s fairy-tale wedding.
“I’m still counting on getting out of here so we can get you there on time,” Colton said.
She looked up at Colton and caught his gaze, wishing he was right. But at the moment, Ireland and Micah’s fairy-tale wedding seemed a million miles away.
“What about the bars?” Bret said, walking across the room to where they were working.
“I’ve just got the glass off. Looks like there are a couple weak points, though without the proper tools this isn’t going to easy.”
“I found a long nail in the corner I’ve been using to try and loosen the hinges, but yeah, neither project is going to be easy.”
Lexi heard the roar of a vehicle outside. Her fingers gripped the edges of the cardboard holding the glass.
Colton jumped down from the top of the tires. “So much for our forty-eight hours to prepare.”
Any plan they’d had to escape vanished. She could hear the car doors slam shut, then a lock being turned. The door Bret had been working on opened.
Someone shouted for them not to move. A second later, she felt her eyes burn as the room filled with smoke. As the haze cleared, she saw two African men rush into the room, but it was the third man that caught her attention.
Lexi felt the blood drain from her face as the glass panels she’d been holding crashed to the floor. “Trent?”
* * *
Colton’s eyes burned as he covered his mouth and nose with the palm of his hand. The room was full with a thick smoke, and he’d heard at least one shot. Using grenades or flash bangs were a common practice for the military in an ambush situation. It allowed them to return fire on the enemy while staying concealed so they could execute offensive maneuvers.
His mind raced through their limited options. Because while he and Bret both had military experience, in this scenario they were at a severe disadvantage. Not only did they not have the element of surprise, from what he could see through the smoke they were up against three men, and at least one was armed.
And there was an unexpected variable he wasn’t sure how to calculate into the scenario.
Lexi had called out to Trent.
His jaw clenched, knowing he couldn’t think about that right now. Now that the door was open, this was their chance to get out. He needed to level the playing field, and the only way to do that was for them to quickly change positions and attempt to regain the element of surprise.
Unless she’d already moved, Lexi was now behind him and to his left. Bret had been near the door to his right. He shifted left where he could see the subtle outline of one of the men. Even taking down one would be a start at tipping the odds in their favor. He needed to not only disarm the man, but disable him, as well. At least the smoke put both sides at a disadvantage.
Colton heard a shuffle to his right, then Bret cried out. But Colton couldn’t give his position away by calling out to his brother-in-law to see if he was okay. The smoke began to clear just enough for him to see a man coming at him with a small handgun. His choices in defense had to be adjusted when there were weapons involved. Disarming him could prove to be too risky, but at this point, his options were few. He reacted immediately, shoving the man’s hand away from below in order to deflect his aim. Half a second later, Colton pushed back his arm to ensure his attacker was unable to use his weapon. Wincing in pain, the man dropped the gun onto the ground. Colton aimed for the windpipe, then used the momentum of his own body to drop the man onto the ground.
In a matter of seconds, the exchange was over. His attacker stared up at Colton from the cement floor.
Colton looked around. The air in the room was finally beginning to clear. He saw that Bret had managed to take down one of the intruders, as well.
“Are you okay?” he asked, ignoring the assailant for the moment.
“I’m fine. But where’s the third man?”
Colton tried not to panic. “Where’s Lexi?”
“Lexi!” He shouted out her name, but there was no answer.
Another wave of panic seeped through him. Besides the four of them, the room was empty. Had this been the plan all along? A distraction to ensure they got her?
Colton turned back to the guy he’d just taken out. He picked up the man’s gun and aimed it at his heart. Blood ran from the assailant’s nose and down his face from where Colton had hit him.
“Where did he take her?”
“I don’t know. Her leaving wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Then what was your plan?”
The man’s jaw jutted out in defiance, his lips pressed tightly together as he turned his head.
Colton pressed his boot against the man’s shoulder as added encouragement.
He winced in pain. “Okay... We were supposed to let him see that his sister was alive, then he was going to give us the account numbers for the money he’d stolen. The smoke was to ensure we weren’t ambushed when we entered the room.”
“Looks like your plan didn’t work,” Colton said, but he wasn’t sure what had actually transpired. Had Trent grabbed his sister in all the commotion? “What were you supposed to do with us when this was over?”
“Kill you.”
Colton felt his gut tense. So there had never been any intentions of any of them walking out of here alive.
“Colton Landry?”
Six heavily armed men wearing fatigues rushed through the door and into the lingering smoke. Colton shifted his weapons and aimed it at the lead intruder’s heart.
“Stop right there—”
“Slow down.” One of the men held up his hand. “We’re on your side.”
Colton noted the USA patch on his uniform, but even with the familiar insignia, he wasn’t ready to blindly trust anyone again. “Who are you?”
“Lieutenant Samuel E. Stevens. US Army. We were sent here to take you back to the capital.” The man’s gaze shifted to the floor. “Though it doesn’t look like you need us now.”
“There was a third man, who escaped,” Colton said. “And he took Lexi Shannon, the woman who was with us. We believe the man was her brother. She never would have left on her own.”
“Trent Hudson,” the lieutenant said.
Colton nodded. “Lexi’s stepbrother.”
The lieutenant signaled to two of the soldiers to handcuff the men on the ground.
Colton stepped up to the lieutenant. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“We arrested Mr. Hudson in a hotel room in the capital, and after some persuasion he eventually agreed to help us find you. He was fitted with a tracking device so we could keep tabs on him at all times,” the lieutenant said. “That’s how we found you.”
“And the Moroccan government,” Bret asked. “What are they doing here?”
“This ended up being a joint operation between their government and ours. We wanted our hands on Adam Tazi, who’s on the FBI’s most-wanted list for dealing weapons and a long line of other felonies. The Moroccan government wanted him caught for crimes in this country. Trent made a deal with the FBI. A lower sentence for his involvement with Adam Tazi’s enterprises if he helped us capture the man and help us to find you.”
“And did you find Tazi?” Colton asked.
“We arrested him on our way here.”
“Well, apparently Trent backed out on your deal, because he’s gone and so is his sister.” Colton frowned. His least concern at the moment was Trent. They needed to find Lexi. “What about the tracking device he was wearing? We need to find them.”
As he stepped out of the room and into the blistering sunlight behind the lieutenant, one of the soldiers walked toward them and announced that Trent had dumped the tracking device.
Colton tried to control the alarm he felt. The rotors of a helicopter pulsed in the distance. But there was no sign of Lexi or her brother.
“We can still find him.” The lieutenant spouted off a string of instructions into his radio. “There’s only one main road out of here back to the city. We’ve got a local ground team right behind us. The only reason we didn’t wait to go in is because we realized you were under attack. But my men will find them.”
“And in the meantime?” Bret asked.
“We’re going to get you out of here.” He called out orders to one of his men. “The helicopter will take you to Rabat.”
Colton hesitated at the offer. There was no way he was going anywhere without Lexi. Trent might be her family, but Colton was certain that her safety wasn’t one of his priorities. He’d already double-crossed the government despite whatever deal they’d made, not to mention the money he’d embezzled from his boss. Trent Hudson wasn’t a man to be trusted.
“Let my brother-in-law go with the helicopter. He’s going to need a thorough medical exam once he gets to the capital, but I’m coming with you.”
“My orders were to get both of you back to Rabat,” the lieutenant said above the roar of the helicopter rotors.
Colton bit back a sharp response. He understood the lieutenant’s position, but as far as he was concerned, this wasn’t a negotiation. He was staying, with or without the soldier’s permission. “After two tours of duty in Afghanistan, I know how to handle myself.”
“You did bring down Adam’s men with no firepower. That’s enough to impress any of us.”
“I’ll see you in Rabat, then.” Colton grabbed his brother-in-law into a tight bear hug and said goodbye before heading back with the lieutenant for the three Land Rovers that had just arrived. “You know Trent was never planning to come back with you.”
“What do you think he’s doing, then?”
“I think he took Lexi as leverage. A guarantee that he could escape across the border into Spain and disappear without getting shot.”
“He’ll never make it.”
“You can’t be sure of that. He’s got Lexi, the funds and the motivation with nothing to lose at this point.”
The lieutenant pulled open the driver’s door to the Land Rover. “Then let’s make sure he doesn’t make it.”